Method and apparatus for cutting pile yarns



June 25, 1968 H. c. MUELLER 3,389,667

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PILE YARNS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 23, 1965 June 25, 1968 H. c. MUELLER METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PILE YARNS Filed Dec. 23, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 June 25, 1968 H. c. MUELLER 3,

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING FILE YARNS 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 215, 1965 June 25, 1968 H. c. MUELLER 3,389,667

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PILE YARNS Filed Dec. 23 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent 3,389,667 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PILE YARNS Helmut C. Mueller, Springfield, Mass, assignor to Bigelow-Sanford, Inc., Thompsonville, Conn., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 515,985 12 Claims. (Cl. 112-79) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The method of making a pile fabric floor covering which comprises inserting a pile yarn from one side of a backing through the backing to the other side thereof, cutting the yarn on said one side of the backing, feeding the yarn and inserting both out ends of the yarns through the backing from said one side to the other side at a point on the backing spaced from the point of said first mentioned insertion, and apparatus for performing the method; the method and apparatus may employ a hollow needle through which a blast of air is blown to feed the pile yarn.

The present invention relates to the manufacture of pile fabric floor covering and more particularly to method and apparatus for this purpose employing a hollow needle through which an air stream is projected.

In the manufacture of so-called tufted pile fabric floor covering it has recently become known to employ a hollow needle through which a stream of air is projected to draw the pile yarn through the needle. Processes and apparatus of this kind as heretofore known, for example as shown in the Short Patent No. 3,089,442, have been confined to the manufacture of loop pile fabric. The traditional loopers for taking yarn from the needles and, when cut pile is desired, for cutting the pile loops, are not employed in such method and apparatus and, accordingly, such method and apparatus has not been capable of manufacturing tufted fabric having cut pile, as distinguished from loop pile.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for the manufacture of tufted pile fabric containing cut pile.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for the manufacture of tufted pile fabric floor covering of the type employing a hollow needle and a blast of air directed therethrough for drawing the pile yarn through the needle, which is capable of making cut pile.

A further object of the invention is to provide such method and apparatus which is capable of making fabric containing both cut pile tufts and uncut pile loops.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of illustrative embodiments thereof wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is a plan view of one form of apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal vertical mid-sectional view taken on line 33 of FIG. 1 showing the needle of the gun in fully projected position;

FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3 but shows the needle in retracted position and the cutter in cutting position;

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line 55 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view looking at the side opposite the side seen in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken on line 77 of FIG. 6;

FIGS. 8, 9, 10 and 11 are detail side elevational views of the tip of the needle and associated parts, somewhat "ice schematic, illustrating successive phases of the tuft forming cycle;

FIG. 12 is a front elevation of a modification in the form of a multi-needle machine;

FIG. 13 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken on line 1313 of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line 1414 of FIG. 12;

FIG. 15 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line 15-15 of FIG. 12; and,

FIG. 16 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken on line 1616 of FIG. 12.

In accordance with the invention I provide a tufting apparatus, and corresponding method, suitable for making a so-called tufted pile fabric floor covering, including a needle, means for feeding pile yarn to the needle, means for repeatedly projecting the needle into and withdrawing it out of the backing fabric, and means for cutting the pile yarn on the same side of the backing from which the needle is projected into the backing and means for projecting both cut ends of the yarn through the backing. The needle preferably is a hollow needle through which an air stream is projected outwardly to draw the pile yarn through the needle as it is released from the yarn feeding means, for example, at a fixed rate. Preferably means is provided whereby uncut pile loops, as well as cut pile tufts, can be formed. In a further preferred form the air stream is interrupted during the cutting of the yarn. In a modification, a plurality of needles is provided to stitch parallel lines of tufts into the backing.

Referring to the drawings, and first to the modification shown in FIGS. 17, the apparatus of this modification is in the form of a handheld tufting gun which employs a single needle.

The gun comprises a body 2, having a hand grip 4, which may be a part of a conventional electric drill, including within the body 2 an electic motor (not shown), supplied with electric current through a cord 6 and controlled by a trigger 8. The body 2 also includes a reduction gear (not shown). Supported on the front of the body 2, opposite the grip 4, is a housing 10 through which passes a transverse main shaft 12 carrying a worm wheel 14 which is driven by the reduction gear when the trigger 8 is depressed. Mounted on the free end of housing 10 is a barrel 16 within which reciprocates the needle bar 18 carrying a needle 20 at its forward end. A cutter blade 22 is carried on the needle bar 18 and is adapted to be periodically operated to cut the pile yarn as will be hereinafter described. A handle 24 is mounted at 26 on the barrel 16.

The pile yarn 28 leading from any suitable source of supply is fed toward the needle and released continuously at a fixed rate by a feed cone 30 fixed on the main shaft 12. An idler feed roll 32 cooperates with the feed cone 3! to grip the pile yarn 28 between them and cause it to be fed by the feed cone 30. The idler feed roll 32 is carried in an adjustable bracket 34 slideable on a shaft 36 carried by an arm 38 pivoted on the casing 2. A tension spring 40 extending between the casing 2 and the arm 38 urges the idler feed roll 32 into engagement with the feed cone 30. From the feed cone 30 the pile yarn 28 passes through an adjustable guide 42, mounted on an arm 44 supported on the barrel 16, to a yarn inlet tube 46 fixed in the needle bar 18 and extending outwardly through a slot 48 in the bottom of the barrel 16. The yarn passes inwardly through the yarn inlet tube 46 through a bore 50 in the needle bar which communicates with an axial bore 52 in the needle bar leading to the hollow needle 20. If desired, more than one pile yarn may be fed to the needle.

The cutter 22 is supported on a plunger 54 slideable in a tube 56 fixed in the needle bar 18, as shown, and extending through the slot 43 in the barrel 16. Surrounding the outer part of the tube 56 is a cylindrical housing 58 urged outwardly by a coil compression spring 60. The plunger 54 is connected to the outer end of the housing 58 by a threaded stem 62 whereby endwise movement of the housing 58 on the tube 56 moves the plunger 54 and with it the cutter 22 to project the cutting edge of the cutter into the path of movement of the yarn 28 in the bore 52 to sever the yarn, the cutting edge sliding across the face of a stationary tubular cutter block 64 fixed in the front end of the needle bar 18 and carrying the needle 20, as shown. The plunger 54 is retained in the tube 56 and held against rotation therein by a cross pin 66, fixed in the tube 56. To operate the cutter, a cutter operating lever 68 is mounted on a block 70 which is pivoted at 72 on a support 74 fixed at 76 to the barrel 16. At its forward end the cutter operating lever 68 is forked and the two arms 68' of the fork engage on opposite sides of a square-sectioned portion of the housing 58, as appears in FIG. 1. A lip 78 on the housing 58 is engaged by the fork arm 68' to move the housing 58. The lever 68 is slotted at 89 for the passage of the yarn inlet tube 46 and associated parts thercthrough. At its rearward end the lever 68 carries a movable abutment S2 fixed in adjusted position by clamp screw 82, FIG. 7. The lever 68 is operated by engagement therewith of a striker 84. The striker S4 is removably mounted on an arm 86 which arm is rotatably mounted on the main shaft 12 by a set screw 88 whereby the angular position of the arm 86 with respect to the shaft 12 may be adjusted. When the striker 84 strikes the abutment 82 the cutter operating lever 68 rocks about its pivot 72 and moves the housing 58 upwardly against the action of the spring 66 to move the cutting edge of cutter blade 22 across the face of cutter block 64. The striker 84 may be removed by removing the set screw 84' in which case the cutter 22 is not operated and the apparatus forms uncut pile loops.

T he needle bar 18 is reciprocated in the barrel 16 by means of a crank disk 90 mounted on the main shaft 12 and rotatably adjustable thereon, being secured in adjusted position by a set screw 92. A erankpin 94 is adjustably secured to the disk 90, for adjustment in the circular slot 96 to alter the timing of the needles with the other operations. A connecting rod 98 connects the crankpin 94 to a wrist pin 100 fixed onthe needle bar 18 as appears to best advantage in FIG. so that rotation of the main shaft 12 reciprocates the needle bar 18 in the barrel 16.

Air under pressure is introduced into the yarn inlet tube 46 and thence through the bores 50 and 52 and out through the hollow needle to tend to draw the pile yarn outwardly of the open end of the needle. For this purpose an air supply line 102 is connected to a fitting 104 surrounding the inlet tube 46 and providing a cylindrical air passageway 106 from which a series of air inlets 10S lead into the interior of the tube 46 and are inclined, as shown, to direct jets of air into the interior of the tube toward its inner end. When the cutter 22 is operated to cut the yarn it tends to obstruct the flow of air outwardly of the needle, thus building up pressure within the bore 52, bore and the interior of tubular guide 46 which might tend to blow the pile yarn backwardly out of the tube 46. To prevent such action, a valve 110 is provided in the air line 102. Valve 110 is a normally closed valve and is operated to open position, to permit flow through air line 102, by a plunger 112. The valve 110 is mounted on the housing 2 by means of a bracket 114 with the plunger 112 in position to engage the periphery of crank disk fit) which disk has its periphery shaped in the form of a cam, including an adjustable cam segment 91, to operate the valve 112 as required. Timing of the operation of the valve 111 with respect to the other operations of the gun can be adjusted by rotating the disk 9t": on the main shaft 12, fixing it in the desired position by means of set screw 92, and adjusting the segment 91 as required. The crankpin 94 can be adjusted in the slot 96 as needed. As an alternative to the valve 110, a bleed port 116 may be provided in the needle bar 18, leading from the axial bore 52 to atmosphere, for release of air from the bore when the cutter moves into closed position, but the valve is preferred.

A presser foot 118 is removably mounted on the forward end of barrel 16 by means of a set screw 120. The presser foot 118 is provided with a central bore through which the needle 21 passes.

In operation, the gun is held by the grip 4 and the handle 24 and positioned to place the presser foot 118 against a backing fabric 122, as shown in FIG. 8. The backing fabric may be any suitable sheet material, for example a woven jute fabric as currently used in the industry. As the needle 20 advances, its inclined outer end penetrates the fabric. The blast of air flowing out of the needle draws with it the pile yarn 28 so that the yarn thus is carried through the backing fabric, projecting on the far side to the extent allowed by the feed cone 30, to form a first pile tuft leg 124. As the needle 29 retracts to the position of FIG. 9 the first leg 124 remains in the backing fabric. During the retracting stroke, the cutter 22 is operated to sever the yarn on the near side of the backing at a point spaced from the backing a distance determined in part by the axial thickness of the presser foot 118. During the cutting operation the air stream preferably is interrupted by valve 110. When the needle has withdrawn from the backing, the gun is moved, as shown in FIG. 10, in the direction in which the line of stitching is to be formed, to position the needle 20 opposite a point on the backing 122 which is spaced from the point at which the first leg 124 was inserted in the backing. As the needle again advances to penetrate the backing, the cutter 22 is retracted, the air stream if it was interrupted, is continued, and the yarn 28 is fed forward. There are now two free, cut ends of yarn in the needle and both are blown out of the needle by the air blast, as appears in FIG. 11, the end 126 which is connected to the first leg 124 being projected through the backing as the second leg of the same length of yarn. At the same time, the new free end 128 of the yarn 28 is projected through the backing to form the first leg of the succeeding length of yarn. In this operation the length of the first tuft leg 124 (and 128) is determined by the rate at which pile yarn 28 is released from the feed cone 30 and the length of the second tuft leg 126 depends upon the distance from the backing 122 at which the yarn 28 is cut. The height of the pile can be adjusted by substituting a different presser foot 118 of a different thickness axially of the needle. This, in effect, changes the distance of the point of cut from the backing 122. The rate of feed is then adjusted so as to make the length of the first tuft leg 124 equal to the new length of the second tuft leg 126.

When uncut pile loops are desired, instead of cut pile tufts, the striker 84 is removed, thus disabling the cutter.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the method and apparatus of the invention is capable of making pile loops or pile tufts of very long length.

Referring now to the modification of FIGS. 1216, in this modification a gang of hollow needles 130 project downwardly from a needle bar 132 which is mounted for vertical reciprocation on the machine frame 134 by means of the usual eccentrics 136 on the main shaft 137 and the eccentric straps 138 connected to the needle bar 132 by vertical rods 140. The needles 130 pass freely through a presser foot 142 and are projected through the backing 144 which is supported by stationary needle plate 146 having appropriate apertures for the reception of the tips of the needles. The needle bar 132 contains a cavity 148 into which air under pressure is supplied from line 150 through a valve 152 from the air supply line 154, the valve 152 corresponding to the valve 110 in the embodiment previously described. The valve 152 is operated in timed relation with the reciprocation of the needles byra cam 156 on the main shaft 137.

The pile yarns 158 pass from a suitable supply through a yarn feeder 160, of a form known in the art adapted to feed each yarn selectively at a uniform or at a variable speed. From the feeder 160 the pile yarns 158 pass through guides 162 into tubular yarn guides 164 which are positioned in the needle bar 132 so that they pass through the cavity 148. The yarn guides 164 are provided with downwardly and inwardly sloping bores 166 through which air under pressure passes from the cavity 143 and into the interior of the guides 164 in the form of jets tending to draw the yarn 158 downwardly and project it from the open end of the needles 130. More than one yarn may be fed to a needle or needles.

Cutters 168, one for each yarn, are located within a space 17-0 within the needle bar 132 and are carried on plungers 172 slideable in plugs 174 removably held in the needle bar by set screws 176. Each plunger 172 carries on its outer end a head 178 which is engaged by a coil compression spring 180 to urge it outwardly to maintain the cutter in its retracted position. Each cutter is operated under the control of a pattern chain 182 running on sprockets 129 and made up from low links 84 and high links 186, the chains being driven in timed relation with the shaft 137 by a drive chain 188. When a high link 186 passes across the head 178 the cutter 168 is operated, its cutting edge sweeping across the face of the fixed cutter block 190 surrounding the upper end of the needle 130, to cut the yarn. When a low link 184 passes across the head 178 the corresponding cutter 168 remains inactive for that row with the result that an uncut pile loop is formed in the corresponding yarn. When fabric in which all of the pile is cut tufts is desired, all of the pattern chains 182 will be formed entirely of high links 186. In this case if desired the pattern chains 182 may be omitted and replaced with any suitable mechanism for operating all of the cutters 168 during the formation of every row.

As in the modification of FIGS. 1-11, an air bleed port 192 may be provided as an alternative to the air valve 152, but the valve is preferred.

The machine of FIGS. 12-16 operates in substantially the same manner as the modification of FIGS. 1-11, there being a plurality of needles instead of a single one, and the frame of the machine remaining stationary as the backing 144 is moved longitudinally through it as indicated by the arrow 194. The product may contain all cut tufts, or all uncut loops or some of both. The needles 130 reciprocate into and out of the backing 144, each needle, in making cut pile, at each insertion (except the first one) inserting two free ends of pile yarn (for each yarn fed to that needle) through the same opening in the fabric to form the second leg of one length of yarn and the first leg of the succeeding length of yarn. Preferably the air stream is interrupted at the time the yarn is cut to prevent undue disturbance of the pile yarn as the cutter is actuated and thus interferes with flow of air out of the needle.

While particular embodiments of the method and apparatus have been described in detail for purposes of disclosure of the invention, variations therein will be apparent to those skilled in the art and accordingly the invention is not confined to such details and includes all subject matter embraced within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The method of making a pile fabric floor covering which comprises inserting a pile yarn from one side of a backing through the backing to the other side thereof, cutting the yarn on said one side of the backing at a point spaced from the backing, feeding the yarn and inserting both cut ends of the yarn through said backing from said one side to the other side at a point on the backing spaced from the point of said first mentioned insertion to form a pile tuft and repeatedly so cutting the yarn on said one side of the backing, feeding the yarn and inserting both cut ends through the backing to form a pile fabric floor covering.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the pile yarn is drawn toward the backing by an air stream.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the pile yarn is positively fed and released at a fixed rate.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein a plurality of pile yarns are simultaneously inserted into the backing along parallel lines.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the air stream is interrupted during the cutting of the yarn.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the steps of cutting the yarn and inserting the cut ends are omitted in the formation of certain pile and instead of inserting cut ends the uncut yarn is inserted as recited in claim 1.

7. Tufting apparatus for making a pile fabric floor covering comprising a needle, means for feeding pile yarn to the needle, means for projecting the needle into and withdrawing it out of a backing, means for cutting said pile yarn on the side of the backing from which the needle is projected into the backing, and means for inserting both cut ends of the yarn through the backing.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the needle is a hollow needle and an air stream is projected outwardly through the needle to draw the pile yarn through the needle.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the means for feeding the pile yarn releases the yarn at a fixed rate.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the air stream is interrupted during the cutting of the pile yarn.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 comprising a plurality of needles.

12. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the means for cutting the pile yarn is not operated in the formation of certain pile, thereby forming pile loops.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,809,600 10/1957 Robb et a1 11279 2,866,424 12/1958 Masland 11279.6 2,997,009 8/1961 Ballard 112-79 3,077,906 2/1963 Harrison et a1. 139-399 3,142,276 7/1964 Schauer 1l2-80 3,144,844 8/ 1964 Elliott et a1 11280 3,225,723 12/1965 Wilkes 11280 3,313,260 4/1967 Short 112-79 X JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

I. R. BOLER, Examiner. 

